Brad Pitt: From Sex Icon To Inglourious Basterd

Shying away from a potential career in Journalism, he spent the better part of the 80s trying to make a name for himself as an actor. Appearing in various parts in commercials, television and film he eventually made it big in Hollywood as a sex icon. Despite this, he quickly worked hard to redefine himself as a versatile actor by starring in films like A River Runs Through It, Interview With The Vampire, Legends of the Fall and Seven. In this video, WatchMojo.com takes a look at the acting career of Hollywood heavyweight Brad Pit and the roles that made him a top Hollywood A-Lister.

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VIDEO SCRIPT

He’s an A-List actor that has been hailed as the Sexiest Man Alive. Welcome to Watchmojo.com and today we’re taking a look at the career of actor Pitt.

Born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma he was educated at the University of Missouri. Just 2 credits shy of earning his Journalism degree, he spontaneously packed up his belongings and moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. There he took acting lessons, while making a living delivering refrigerators and chauffeuring strippers in a limo.

After several months of struggling to make it onto the acting scene, Pitt landed a small part on the Television series Dallas, and continued to appear in guest roles on several other shows. At the same time he appeared bare-chested in several clothing commercials.

He made his big screen debut in 1989’s slasher film “Cutting Class”, but quickly gained mass recognition for his performance as a hitchhiker in 1991’s “Thelma and Louis” due to his love scene with Geena Davis making him an instant sex symbol.

A drawback of this recognition was the Hollywood perception that he was just a pretty face. As a result, Pitt attempted to redefine himself in 1992’s “A River Runs Through It” by playing a charming, yet self-destructive fly-fisher with a gambling habit.

He then chose to star as a sociopath on a killing spree in 1993’s “Kalifornia”. Unfortunately, the film wasn’t well received and bashed for being overly violent.

He responded by playing the comedic role of a burnt-out Hippie in “True Romance”, before taking on a starring role in “Interview With The Vampire”, opposite Tom Cruise.

Pitt became a Hollywood staple shortly after by starring in the family melodrama “Legends of The Fall” and as a detective on the trail of a serial killer in the gritty thriller “Seven”.

In 1995, he earned a golden globe for starring as a mental patient taunting Bruce Willis in the time travel flick “Twelve Monkeys.”

He then appeared in a string of high profile releases, such as “The Devil’s Own” opposite Harrison Ford, and “Seven Years In Tibet”. Unfortunately, he hit a stumbling block with “Meet Joe Black”. His film about a man meeting the personification of Death failed to garner praise.

In 1999, Pitt rekindled his Hollywood status by starring in “Fight Club” opposite Edward Norton as the club’s leader and recruiter. He then gained similar attention for his hilariously incomprehensible part in the British crime-caper “Snatch”.

Shortly afterward, the actor starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy “The Mexican”, and joined an A-list ensemble cast in the rat pack caper classic remake “Ocean’s Eleven”. The heist film did so well that he quickly signed on for its two sequels.

Meanwhile, Pitt re-enforced his sex appeal by starring as the Greek hero Achilles in the blockbuster epic “Troy”, and co-starred as Angelina Jolie’s husband in the action film “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”. Ironically, the two sex icons became as infatuated with each other as America was with them, and later married.

In 2008, Pitt starred as a dimwitted exercise coach in the Coen Brothers FBI thriller “Burn After Reading”, and in the critically acclaimed role of a man reverse aging in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.